


h(a)unting

by Claws, keptein



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M, Multi, Other, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-18 09:11:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5920534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Claws/pseuds/Claws, https://archiveofourown.org/users/keptein/pseuds/keptein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>art included!</b>
</p><p>The dead-eyed stare Akaashi gives him raises all the hairs on Koutarou's arms, and he gives him a bright, sunny smile in return. "Yes, today," Akaashi says finally. "I'm going to go have a smoke. There’s coffee in the thermos. Take a shower, you smell."<br/>"I smell like a <i>case</i>," Koutarou sings, daring to kiss the side of Akaashi's head before he sprints for the shower, not looking back to check his expression.</p><p>Bokuto and Akaashi are ghost hunters with more mystery between them than in the work they do. The new case they take on, however, may force them to change that - or they risk having everything unravel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Охота на призраков](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7945465) by [SpringJonquil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpringJonquil/pseuds/SpringJonquil)



> this is a collaboration between kep (keptein) and schaaf (claws)! kep did the writing and schaaf did the art. we hope you enjoy!
> 
> note: hover over the art for an image description. hover over the texts to read them in plain text.

"Bokuto!"

The knock on his door is harsh and unforgiving, much like Akaashi's face when Koutarou finally manages to open his eyes. "Whuh," he says, because that's the extent of his vocabulary at eight in the morning on a Saturday.

"We got a call."

"Whah," Koutarou says again, rubbing over his face. "Sleep.."

"We got. A call," Akaashi repeats. It takes a moment to sink in before Koutarou jumps up out of bed with a shout.

" _A call!_ "

"That's what I said," Akaashi says, rubbing his forehead. He's not a morning person either - for a second, Koutarou feels bad for whoever was on the other end of the line. "He wants us there at ten."

"Today?"

The dead-eyed stare Akaashi gives him raises all the hairs on Koutarou's arms, and he gives him a bright, sunny smile in return. "Yes, today," Akaashi says finally. "I'm going to go have a smoke. There’s coffee in the thermos. Take a shower, you smell."

"I smell like a _case_ ," Koutarou sings, daring to kiss the side of Akaashi's head before he sprints for the shower, not looking back to check his expression.

*

Koutarou drives them. He's the only one who can drive. At least he thinks so, Akaashi never offers, and he's never seen his license. And it's Koutarou's car anyway, and he wouldn't trust his baby in just anyone's hands, not even his mysterious paranormal partner that he sometimes has sex with. Even though Akaashi is _really_ good with his hands.

"Take a right here," Akaashi says from the passenger seat, his trusty thermal mug in his hand, reading from the maps app on his phone.

"This house is so far out," Koutarou comments. "No wonder it's haunted."

"If it is haunted," Akaashi says, sipping his coffee. "Don't get your hopes up."

Their last two cases have been false alarms - loose screws, drafty boards, that kind of thing. Akaashi's happy as long as they get paid, but Koutarou loves the mystery, the occult beasts they encounter.

Well, could encounter. In the half year they've been ghost hunting - or paranormal investigating, as Akaashi always corrects it to - Koutarou's never actually seen anything particularly big, just a couple poltergeists and restless ancestors punishing their promiscuous offspring. He's ready for it when it comes, though.

"This is it," Akaashi says, and Koutarou parks the car. It's a worn, small house in a quiet Tokyo suburb, but it doesn't look as fallen-down as Koutarou was expecting. It's downright charming in the bright morning sun, even though the garden is unkempt and the door could use another coat of paint.

Akaashi finishes his coffee, makes a show of proving to Koutarou that it's empty, and puts it in the car before closing the door after him. "One time," Koutarou says, following. "One time I ask you to be careful with my car, I don't gotta see it every time. I trust you, dude."

"You don't trust me," Akaashi says and knocks. Koutarou doesn't have time to reply before the door opens, showing a pale, short man with frosted tips and bad posture. "Kozume-san?"

"Hi," the man says quietly, and steps away so they can enter. "Thank you for coming."

"Sorry for intruding!" Koutarou says cheerfully, toeing off his shoes and shrugging off his coat once they're inside. Akaashi gives him a look for making himself so comfortable immediately, but Koutarou sticks his tongue out in return.

"You said some furniture had been moved, Kozume-san?" Akaashi asks. "May you show us?"

Kozume nods and heads to the living room, sparsely decorated with a few mismatching pieces of furniture. "That chair," he says, pointing to a chair standing by the couch. "It used to be by the door."

Akaashi looks at Koutarou. "Actually, Kozume-san, could I bother you for a glass of water?" he asks, turning to him.

"Okay," Kozume says, and they leave for the kitchen. Koutarou stays behind to inspect the furniture. It's usually easier to do it with only one in the room - there's less disturbance. Usually Akaashi is the one who does this, what with Koutarou being just a little more personable than him.. Actually, Akaashi usually doesn't talk to their clients at all. Koutarou likes talking to people, but he likes the grunt work too - seeing if anything will unearth is thrilling.

There are lines in the floor where the chair has been dragged. Koutarou crouches down to trace it with his fingers, frowning when his fingers come back dark. He sticks them in his mouth, but they just taste like dust. "'Kaashi," he calls sadly. "Can I have some water too?"

"What did you do," Akaashi says, coming back into the room with Kozume in tow. Koutarou straightens up and grimaces.

"Nothing, nothing," he says, accepting the glass of water Akaashi hands him. "Just using all my senses, right?"

In a voice low enough so the client doesn't hear it, Akaashi hisses, "stop putting your mouth everywhere."

Not as quietly, Koutarou responds, "that's not what you said last night," and gets a confused look from Kozume and an angry one from Akaashi in return. "Anyway, there are claw marks behind the couch."

"Claw marks?" Kozume asks, frowning. "I didn't notice those."

"Come see." Koutarou pushes the chair away so Akaashi and Kozume can view the deep gouges on the lower wall, and the back of the couch.

"Are you saying these weren't here when the chair moved?" Akaashi asks, and Kozume shakes his head.

"I would remember something like this."

Akaashi and Koutarou exchange a look, and Akaashi steps back. "How long have you lived here?" Koutarou asks Kozume.

"Five years," he says, which makes Koutarou's eyebrows raise - he'd figured him for twenty-five tops, and twenty seems like a young age to move into a house by yourself.

"Alone?"

"No," Kozume says, but doesn't elaborate.

Koutarou hates the closed-off ones. He likes the rambly clients much better, the ones that go on and on about this and that - even though there's a bunch of unnecessary information to wade through to get to the real stuff, at least then he has something to go on. With types like Kozume, Koutarou has no idea what to say, so it's a good thing Akaashi has taken to him. "Cool," he says lamely, and Akaashi sighs.

"Who else lives here?"

"No one," Kozume says. "Except for.. this, apparently." His fingers make a small gesture towards the marks.

"Why did you feel like you had to contact our services?"

Kozume hesitates. "There's been.. noise. At night."

"Are you sure it's not just the wind?" Koutarou asks helpfully, and Kozume glares at him.

"It was a voice. I thought you of all people would believe me, considering this is your field -"

Akaashi smoothly cuts him off. "Sorry about my partner," he says with a small smile. Unfair, Koutarou thinks, he never gets to see Akaashi smile. "We've had a lot of previous incidents where it ended up not actually being in our realm of expertise. That doesn't mean we don't believe you, we just have to take all possibilities into account."

Kozume looks mollified, if only a little. "Like I said, it was a voice," he says.

"Could you discern any words?" Akaashi asks.

"Just.." Kozume looks from side to side before he lowers his voice, ".. _hungry_. That was all it said."

"For real!" Koutarou says loudly, excited. "That's awesome!"

"Not awesome," Akaashi corrects him, and turns to Kozume. "We're going to do some readings now - any places of importance, where it sounded like it was coming from, if you have a basement.. anything like that would be very helpful."

"Of course," Kozume says.

Koutarou gets their gear from his backpack, handing a reader to Akaashi, who sticks close to Kozume while Koutarou goes off on his own. Whoever jams with the client sticks around, and that's pretty much always Koutarou, so he tries not to feel betrayed by the fact that Akaashi gets to do it this time. This part is fun too, made more so by how rarely he gets to get his hands dirty.

He turns off the lights in the living room and gets an infrared wand, going over the space meticulously. It blinks brighter when he nears the claw marks, and now he can see what he could only sense before - bright residue in droplets on the floor, splattering over the couch and the wall. For kicks, he touches it with his finger and licks it, but it doesn't come away with a taste this time either.

After making sure that he's noted down everything, he turns the lights back on and goes to find Akaashi and Kozume.

*

“This one is _definitely_ real!” Koutarou exclaims once they’re driving back to his apartment. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one.”

“I don’t,” Akaashi says darkly. “But it’s real, I agree.”

“That’s awesome!” Koutarou says, turning the radio on. Akaashi promptly turns it off. “Hey! My car, my rules.”

“I need quiet to think.”

“Well, I need music to think, you ever think of that?”

“You don’t think anyway,” Akaashi says, and smirks at Koutarou’s mock-hurt face. “Kozume wouldn’t tell me who he’d been living with, but I saw pictures of him and another man. A partner, maybe, or a brother.”

“Or a partner-brother,” Koutarou suggests helpfully, and Akaashi smacks him across the head. “ _Hey!_ We’re brainstorming, right? Come on.”

“Just be reasonable for two seconds, Bokuto, I know you’re capable of it,” Akaashi says, and he sounds honestly annoyed - Koutarou quietens immediately, darting a look over in his direction to see the down-turned corners of Akaashi’s mouth.

“What’s wrong?” he asks after they’ve been driving for a few minutes.

“I’ve got a bad feeling,” Akaashi says after a pause. “Those scratches.. they didn’t look good. And there were more marks in the corridor too when I went over it. Like something’s been bleeding.”

“ _Gross_ ,” Koutarou says, delighted.

Akaashi sighs.

“D’you think we should stop by old man Ukai?”

“That shouldn’t be necessary,” Akaashi says, staring out the window. “I’ll go pick up some supplies.”

“Can I come?”

“No,” Akaashi says. Koutarou nods but resolves to follow him - it shouldn’t be that hard to stay unnoticed. He pulls over by his apartment building.

“So, uh,” he starts. “I don’t have any plans, so you’re welcome to come hang out..” He looks over at Akaashi, the distracting line of his neck - Akaashi’s looking back at him, indecision visible on his features for a moment before it eases.

“I can’t. Sorry.”

“That’s fine,” Koutarou says quickly.

“We have to go back to Kozume’s tomorrow,” Akaashi offers, one of those odd olive branches that keep Koutarou hoping despite himself. “At twelve.”

“Cool. Hey, come by at ten, I’ll make breakfast,” Koutarou says suddenly.

Akaashi looks surprised and then he wrinkles his nose. “I don’t eat breakfast,” he says, but he’s smiling, and Koutarou knows he’ll show up. He always eats breakfast with Koutarou when he stays over.

“See you then.” Koutarou grins, and Akaashi lets out a huff of laughter before exiting the car, pulling his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

*

Tailing Akaashi, Koutarou reflects, would be a lot easier if Tokyo wasn’t so massive, and if he actually knew where Akaashi lives. As of now, he only has a good guess that it’s somewhere near the karaoke bar where they first met, and that’s where he’s loitering now, eyes sharp for any sign of Akaashi.

There are people stumbling in and out of the karaoke bar Orkestra, groups of people coming from goukons and getting ready for the night to _really_ start - Saturday evening means the streets are crowded, loud and raucous with drunken happiness. It's really hard to spot Akaashi in the crowd, if he's even there, and trying to scout for him just makes Koutarou remember how they first met, making out and giggling in the bathroom of Orkestra.

It was a weird night, all those months ago. You pick up one guy, you get one hell of a lay and the most awesome STD ever; the ability to sense the paranormal. It was only luck Akaashi stayed around long enough for Koutarou to badger him into getting his number, even luckier he could get Akaashi to explain why he suddenly saw phantoms on the subway station to work, and why there were new stains on his apartment ceiling.

_We have to do something with this power_ , Koutarou had said when Akaashi had first told him, twisting his fingers and looking at Koutarou with wide, surprised eyes.

_What?_

_With great power comes great responsiblity, Akaashi!_

And now - Koutarou checks the date on his phone - they'd been paranormal investigators for almost six months. Solving one mystery after another, albeit usually pretty low-brow, excepting their current case; this whole claw situation at Kozume's was a new situation altogether.

He's getting distracted, he realises, just as he sees a flash of familiar curly black hair out of the corner of his eye. Not a shadow this time, nor a spectre - it's Akaashi alright. Koutarou would recognise that terrible posture any day, even in the dim evening light.

Time to move.

Akaashi weaves in and out of crowds like a ghost, and it’s hard enough to stay on his tail that Koutarou completely forgets about staying out of sight, struggling just to keep up. He has to hope that Akaashi won’t look behind him, and Koutarou’s hair is down and under a cap - he’s not immediately recognisable in his cheap rendition of spy wear.

He follows Akaashi through some stunted alleys and big, arching streets, finally ending up at a main street - massive and overpopulated, and Koutarou thanks the spirits for his height, the only thing keeping Akaashi in sight - and watching as Akaashi rings the doorbell of a door between two huge shops, the brown door so inconspicuous Koutarou almost isn’t sure if it’s actually there. It has that faint sheen of what Koutarou has dubbed ‘something isn’t right’, the sign of some supernatural influence.

The door opens, and Koutarou watches from the other side of the street as Akaashi slips inside, the door shutting so quietly behind him it's as if it never did anything at all. Creepy fucking door, Koutarou decides, and crosses the street to inspect it further. It's a shop - it must be a shop, if this is where Akaashi gets supplies - but there's no sign, no posters, nothing to advocate wares or anything. The faint sheen sticks to it, almost like an impossible reflection of the busy street in front.

What is going on, Koutarou wonders. Akaashi is certainly a mysterious guy, but this is the first time it's made Koutarou feel small - like there's a whole world he can't know about, a whole side of Akaashi he'll never be able to access. Maybe this is a sign, he thinks bitterly. Maybe it's not something that's meant to be. It's not like Akaashi has ever given him hope, not really, other than ending up in his bed more weeks than not, but.. Akaashi's always made him feel _special_ , feel powerful and thrilled, emotions Koutarou’s searched for his entire life. This uncertainty he's feeling now, watching Akaashi enter a world Koutarou has no idea about.. it throws him off-balance and it makes him doubt himself.

But there's nothing to do about that now, no hand in his hair or soft words of reassurance. Leaving aside his failure of a romantic life and general life, Koutarou debates what to do. Trying to catch glimpses through the window is futile - there’s only one, and the room inside is dark. Following Akaashi is out of the question too, because Koutarou doesn’t actually want to get caught, and he certainly doesn’t want Akaashi to get any madder at him than he’s already been. There’s always the option of going home, but that’s quitter talk, and Koutarou is not a quitter. So he decides to stand around and wait while hoping no one takes him for a lazy prostitute - or worse, a john.

Luckily, there’s enough people mulling around that one guy standing around isn’t paid very much attention. Koutarou plays on his phone while waiting - there’s a level on Candy Crush that’s calling his name, so he works on that while keeping the door in his sight.

Twenty minutes pass in a flash of candy and frustration, and then suddenly the door is opening again, and Koutarou is fumbling to move out of sight, awkwardly hiding behind a advertising poster. He watches Akaashi step out, saying, “Thank you,” to whoever closes the door after him, and start to walk down the street. He’s not carrying anything, Koutarou realises after a moment, frowning with confusion. Akaashi’s hands are empty until he fishes his phone out of his pocket, starting to text.

A second later, Koutarou’s phone chimes. The sound has never been so ominous.

**From: Akaashi Keiji** 23.16

> I know you’re there.

Koutarou looks from the phone to Akaashi with wide eyes. Akaashi has stopped walking and is staring back, cool and impassive.

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” Koutarou says eloquently. He stumbles out from his hiding spot, waving his arms apologetically. “Listen, ‘Kaashi, I didn’t mean..”

Akaashi raises an eyebrow expectantly.

“I mean, haha, what? Funny meeting you here! I’m just meeting some friends at - a bar..” Koutarou trails off, wilting when Akaashi’s expression doesn’t change. “Anyway, how are you?”

“Koutarou,” Akaashi says. “Did you follow me?”

“‘Following’ is a really big word. We.. just coincidentally happened to end up in the same area!”

Akaashi looks about ready to incinerate him.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry! I was just really curious and you _never_ let me go with you and I had to know, okay? I’m sorry.” Koutarou holds his hands up in apology. “Look, why don’t you - come on, lemme buy you a drink, okay, we can sort this all out, please don’t be mad!”

“I am mad,” Akaashi states, but the fire in his eyes has died down, and Koutarou breathes a sigh of relief. “But I’ll let you buy me a drink and explain in detail exactly what you thought you were doing.”

“Nothing, nothing, nothing at all,” Koutarou says quickly as they head into a bar off the main street, finding a quiet space to sit. He orders some sake for them both - Akaashi’s alcohol preference is one of the few things he does know about him.

“Why were you following me?”

“I told you, I was curious.” Koutarou sips the sake when it comes, cocking his head and looking over at Akaashi. Akaashi still looks mad, but not much more than usual, and Koutarou’s crossing his fingers under the table.

“And why,” Akaashi takes a moment to rub his forehead, “were you curious?”

“Eh!” Koutarou exclaims. “What kinda question is that? I wanna know more about you!”

Akaashi drinks from his sake. “We’re not friends,” he says. It would hurt if it were the first time Koutarou had heard it.

“We’re _something_ ,” he replies firmly, and under the table, his hand moves to Akaashi’s thigh. Akaashi puts his over Koutarou’s, but he doesn’t pull it away, merely lets it rest there while they drink.

“I guess we are something,” Akaashi says softly, almost lost in the noise and chatter of the bar. “Still. You shouldn’t have followed me.”

“I’m sorry,” Koutarou says, squeezing Akaashi’s thigh. “Curiosity killed the cat, huh?”

“Precisely,” Akaashi tells him, and his smile is odd and gray, wisps of smoke curling through his hair. Weird, Koutarou thinks off-handedly, he never saw Akaashi pull up a cigarette.

“So will you tell me what you were doing there?”

“No.”

“Please,” Koutarou says, voice dropping and leaning into Akaashi. He grins. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Don’t try to barter information for sexual favours,” Akaashi replies, but his smile is still lingering. “I told you already, I was getting supplies.”

“You’re not carrying anything, though.”

Akaashi raises an eyebrow again. “How do you know that?”

“I - well -” Koutarou falters, then huffs. “Unfair.”

“Life’s unfair.”

“I know that! Now c’mon, tell me. Just a hint! Just a little hint, come on, Akaashi, Akaashi, Akaashi, ‘kaashi, my love, my precious, the best lay of my life -”

“ _Stop_ ,” Akaashi says, throat flushing, and Koutarou shuts up with a grin. “Fine. You get one question.”

Koutarou opens his mouth, then closes it again. “If I ask what you got, you’re just gonna say supplies.. can you show me what you got?”

Akaashi shakes his head.

“What! Come on, that’s part of the question!”

“It’s not that I won’t, it’s that I can’t,” Akaashi explains. He reaches up to tap one finger against his temple. “It’s in here.”

“So it’s just.. information?”

Akaashi nods. He looks uncomfortable, but Koutarou can’t put his finger on why.

“Will you tell me the information?”

Akaashi shakes his head again. “You got one question. Go order another bottle.”

“You’re the _worst_ ,” Koutarou bemoans as he gets up, daring to kiss the crown of Akaashi’s head before he goes to the bar.

They spend the rest of the night there, Koutarou doing his best to make Akaashi laugh and flushing with happiness when he succeeds, until they walk home with fingers illicitly intertwined and tumble into Koutarou’s bed.

*

Koutarou wakes up first the next day. Akaashi is sleeping next to him, mouth open and breathing evenly, hair impossibly soft in the faint morning light. He looks unreal for a moment, untouchable in the best kind of way. Then Koutarou shakes himself - he knows he's a romantic, but thoughts like that embarrass even him. He doesn't trust himself to kiss Akaashi like this without starting something, so instead he sneaks out of bed to shower and make breakfast for two.

He's still standing when Akaashi comes out, looking ruffled and grumpy. “There's coffee,” Koutarou says helpfully.

Akaashi grunts a thanks and helps himself. Koutarou hides his fond smile in the steam from the noodles.

“We have to be at Kozume’s in an hour,” Koutarou says when they're sitting down to eat. Akaashi drinks deeply from his cup of coffee before he replies.

“I know. No run today?”

“I slept in,” Koutarou says sheepishly. He's surprised Akaashi knows his routines so well already, although he supposes there is something routine in their time together now. Domestic, even, although the word feels like far too much.

Good thing Akaashi’s not a mind-reader, he thinks. He’s pretty sure Akaashi would be out the door if he knew Koutarou was thinking words like ‘domestic’. Maybe even words like ‘love’, or at least ‘like-like’.

Koutarou snorts to himself. ‘Like-like’. He’s twenty four, and yet..

“Koutarou?” Akaashi calls, frowning at him over his coffee cup. “Are you alright?”

The sound of his first name outside bed is so rare that Koutarou stops for a moment before he manages to speak, shaking his head. “Sorry, sorry, just got distracted. Are you done eating? I can do the dishes while you grab a shower, and then we go?”

Akaashi nods, still studying him skeptically.

“I’m fine, I promise! Don’t worry! Come on, come on, we’ve got ghost hunting to do!”

“Paranormal investigating,” Akaashi corrects, and seems content to let it lie.

They get into the car - Akaashi somehow acquires another cup of coffee from somewhere, sipping it silently while Koutarou drives. The radio is playing a hit by a girl group, and Koutarou sings along tunelessly, substituting the words with hums when he can’t remember. There’s something warm and soft about this Sunday, and Koutarou doesn’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the sleepy, quiet Akaashi in the passenger seat, the sun shining outside, or the bruises in the shape of Akaashi’s teeth littering his stomach and thighs. One of those things is not like the others, Koutarou thinks, itching over one of the bruises mindlessly, but they’re all good things. Great things, even.

Kozume opens the door for them and they step inside, walking around the place again. Nothing’s changed from the day before as far as he can tell - the scratches are still there, and the chair’s where it was.

“I tried moving it,” Kozume says. “It wouldn’t budge.”

Koutarou pushes at it and the chair squeaks as it moves over the floorboards. “Moves just fine now.”

Kozume frowns.

There is no basement, but there is an attic, and Koutarou bravely volunteers to go upstairs and investigate while Akaashi and Kozume stay downstairs. It’s rare that Akaashi is this talkative - in fact, it’s rare that Koutarou sees him talking to anyone at all - and Koutarou doesn’t want to rob him of a possible new friend, even though there is some bitter jealous part of him itching to rear its head. At the very least, Kozume doesn’t seem interested, and he decides to cling to that instead of getting upset.

And then he’s in the attic, and he forgets all about Akaashi. The light bulb flickers out as soon as he closes the hatch. He has to bow not to hit his head on the ceiling when he stands up, and he can’t see anything around himself - but he doesn’t need that. ‘It’s a second sight,’ Akaashi had told him when Koutarou first started seeing things. ‘It’s easiest to use it when you don’t get distracted by your first. Turn off the light and see.’

And see Koutarou does. There is a figure in the corner - curled in on himself, it looks like, and Koutarou approaches warily, hands up. Whoever they’re dealing with here is dangerous, but this ghost doesn’t seem dangerous at all, just lost and alone. “Hey,” he says.

No response.

“ _Hey_ ,” he says again. “Ghostie. I’m talkin’ to you.”

The ghost’s head shoots up, and Koutarou can see his features now - hair sticking up in tufts, matted and unruly with dried blood. He unfurls and stands up, eyes large and disbelieving. He’s taller than Koutarou, but his legs go through the floor. “Me?”

“Yes, you,” Koutarou says.

The ghost pauses for a long moment. “This is a dream,” it decides, and goes to sit back down.

“No, no, it’s not a dream, hey, I’m talking to you, I promise, I’m real,” Koutarou says hastily. “What do you want me to do, pinch myself? I - _ow_ , that really hurt, actually.”

The ghost laughs after a moment, an awkward bubble. “Who are you? You can see me? What the fuck’s going on?”

A swearer, Koutarou thinks happily. He _loves_ ghosts that swear. “I’m Bokuto, I’m - just -” he pauses awkwardly. It’s not a good idea to tell the dangerous ghost you’re going to exorcise that you’re going to exorcise it. “Just, uh, hanging around. Not as literally as you, though.”

The ghost snorts, smiling. It’s a nice smile, it brightens his entire face. Koutarou decides that he likes this guy, deranged and dead though he may be. “Oh, you’re the visitors.”

“The visitors?”

“You and your friend,” the ghost says vaguely. “He’s with Kenma?”

It takes Koutarou a second to remember that that’s Kozume’s first name. “Right, yeah, they’re downstairs. Nothing to worry about! We’re, um, definitely harmless, we’re just - checking if we can help out, you know! Trying to help our buddy Kozume out. What with the whole.. wall damage and all.”

“You're contractors?”

Koutarou takes a deep breath and nods, trying his best to look convincing.

“I see,” the ghost says. He flickers for a moment. “Kenma.”

“Right, Kenma.”

“How.. is he?”

Koutarou pauses, taken aback. “Why do you care?”

The ghost huffs and turns around.

“No, wait, hey, sorry - he's fine! Definitely fine, y’know, alive and capable of phone calls, he's great.”

The ghost turns back to him, looking mollified. “Good,” he says. “What's your name again?”

Koutarou blinks. “Bokuto.”

“I'm Kuroo,” the ghost says, spreading his arms out. “I used to live here.”

“ _Bokuto,”_ Akaashi calls from downstairs, and Koutarou shifts, getting on his knees to look for the hatch with his fingers. He still can't see anything but the ghost, pale and gray.

Kuroo bends down and puts his arm through the hatch lock, illuminating it. Koutarou reaches for it gratefully. “Thanks, man,” he says, and after a brief moment’s thought he reaches for his bag, pulls out an enchanted ouija board. “Listen - I set this up a while back, it’s connected to Akaashi's - to our phone. We should be able to text. You.. do you know texting? It's like email, but for your phone. Uh.. email is like mail, but over the Internet -”

“I know what texting is,” Kuroo says, sounding amused. “We'll see if it works.”

Koutarou grins at him, forgetting for a moment that this guy could be a really dangerous spirit, and darts down through the hatch, where Akaashi is waiting impatiently. “Sorry,” Koutarou says, dusting off his t-shirt. “I got all turned around up there, the light went out!”

“Did you see something?” Akaashi asks.

Koutarou hesitates. There was something.. not directly _harmless_ about Kuroo the ghost, but he did seem - kind. Not worth selling out immediately, and he certainly doesn't want to bring him up in front of Kozume, who is hovering behind Akaashi. “I'll tell you later,” he decides.

Akaashi narrows his eyes and turns to Kozume. “You said you've never been injured or harmed while living here?”

“Right,” Kozume says, frowning in confusion.

“That's good.”

“I certainly think so..”

“Who used to live here?” Koutarou interrupts.

Kozume stills, eyes widening before they lid, returning to his apathetic expression. “I lived here with my best friend.”

“What happened?” Akaashi asks.

“He died.”

Koutarou and Akaashi exchange a glance. “I'm sorry for your loss,” Koutarou says. He wants to ask more, wants to know about Kuroo, but Kozume is hunched and small, and Koutarou can see where grief’s claws have dug into him. Death, Koutarou thinks. It changes everything.

“Well, we should go,” Akaashi says abruptly, straightening his back. For once he looks his full height - almost as tall as Koutarou - and it gives him authority, makes Koutarou nod and follow without quite noticing. “We will come back with a solution next week. When would suit you?”

“The weekend,” Kozume says quietly, expression still fragile. “I commute.”

Akaashi nods. “We'll be back on Saturday,” he says. “Thank you for your time.”

Koutarou can't help but reach out and grip Kozume’s shoulder loosely as he passes on his way out. It's an empty gesture of solidarity, worthless in the grand scheme of things, but Koutarou's never been able to stand by the sidelines. It's better to try and be rendered irrelevant than never to try at all.

That's what he tells himself, at least.

They leave Kozume behind in the empty house, his dead best friend hovering in the attic.

“He has a cat door,” Akaashi says once they're back in the car. “But no cat.”

“Maybe it ran away,” Koutarou suggests. “Did you ask him?”

“He said it's good for ventilation.”

Koutarou snorts with laughter. “I like him,” he says. “Oh, hey! I met his dead best friend in the attic.”

“You did _what?”_ Akaashi raises his voice, which is rare enough that Koutarou swerves on the road.

“Hey, hey, calm down!”

“Pull over,” Akaashi demands. Koutarou does, giving him a skeptical side-eye.

“Why are you so loud all of a sudden?” he complains, turning off the engine. “It's not like it's my first one-on-one with a ghost.”

“This thing is dangerous,” Akaashi warns. “It's not like anything we've encountered before.”

“That thing at Shouyou’s was pretty damn scary,” Koutarou says, shivering as he remembers the angry poltergeist who summoned some choice nightmare imagery.

“This is not like anything we've encountered before,” Akaashi repeats. His eyes are wide and dark.

“Are you _worried?”_

“Yes, I’m worried!”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Koutarou says, voice rushed and nervous, “Keiji, you need to stop yelling. Seriously, it’s freaking me out.”

Akaashi stops. “I’m sorry,” he says finally. “But you need to take this seriously, Koutarou.”

Koutarou nods, swallowing. “Kuroo seemed like a good guy, though,” he offers weakly.

“Kuroo.. the spectre?”

“Yeah. He seemed really worried for Kozume. Asked about him and stuff.”

“A misdirection,” Akaashi says dismissively. “It was tricking you. Did you tell it anything?”

“Um - what - no, just my name..?”

“Your full name?” There’s something in Akaashi’s voice Koutarou can’t put his finger on. Not quite worry, and yet..

“Just Bokuto.”

Akaashi exhales. “Good.”

“Why, is that bad? Can’t I tell him my name’s Koutarou?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re not talking to it again,” Akaashi says firmly. “And because there’s power in names, Bokuto. You know this.”

It takes a second before Koutarou remembers what he’s talking about - a dusty Sunday morning, two strangers curled up in bed. _My name’s Koutarou_ , he’d whispered to the gorgeous stranger in his bed.

_You’re very trusting,_ the stranger had replied softly, pausing for a long moment to stroke along Koutarou’s cheekbone. _I’m.. Akaashi. Akaashi Keiji._

“Okay,” he says, shaking his head to return to the present - a car with Akaashi too close and too much, stale air and Akaashi’s bonfire scent the only thing he can smell. “I won’t.” Tell him my name, he finishes mentally.

Akaashi nods, satisfied. “Good,” he says. “Start the car.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're struggling to read kuroo's text, just hover over them and the hovertext will display them in normal type! (unfortunately this doesn't work on mobile.)

**From: ???**

> h i d o e s t h i s w o r k

**To: ???**

< yeah ! told you it would work !

**From: ???**

> h o w

**To: ???**

< LOL i have no idea man. magic !

**From: ???**

> l o l

**To: ???**

< yeah it means laugh out loud

**From: ???**

> i k n o w i w a s s a y i n g i t l o l

**To: ???**

< shit LOL sorry i forgot u died recently didn’t u ???

< shit wait that’s really rude

< i’m sorry uh when did u pass away

< except u didn’t pass away totally obvs or we wouldn’t be talking

**From: ???**

> s h u t u p s o i c a n r e p l y

**To: ???**

< sorry!!!! but hey this is kinda cool isn’t it ???

**From: ???**

> y e a h

**To: ???**

< so.. when did u die ??

**From: ???**

> n o t t o o l o n g a g o

> s h o u l d n t y o u k n o w

Koutarou stares down at his phone, confused. Did he already fuck up? Does Kuroo know what he and Akaashi are up to? He knew he was playing with fire by replying to Kuroo's message, but talking to him is fun and a little fascinating, thrilling in that way all dangerous things are. But he's been _careful ,_ not selling Akaashi out or anything, so he doesn't know how Kuroo does.

Time to do what he does best, Koutarou decides, and plays dumb.

**To: ???**

< huh ?? what do u mean ??

**From: ???**

> h a s n t k e n m a t o l d y o u

_Oh,_ Koutarou thinks, and breathes a sigh of relief.

He puts his phone down after shooting off a quick reply and goes back to the team he's coaching.

*

Texting Kuroo is.. fun. He's like a puzzle, and his texts are sometimes hard to figure out and harder to actually understand, but that's part of the excitement. Koutarou keeps coming up with questions, comments, ways to keep the conversation going, and it ends up never really stopping.

It's surprising how quickly Koutarou gets into the habit of it all - he's never been a big texter, always getting distracted and forgetting where he put his phone, but that's not a problem with Kuroo. Kuroo replies sporadically, sometimes taking hours and sometimes replying as soon as Koutarou's sent him a message, but he always manages to follow the odd jumps and skips in topic, the trains of thought that crash into each other in Koutarou's head.

He asks him what he means, of course - everyone asks Koutarou what he means, except for Akaashi, who either understands how Koutarou works or doesn't care enough to ask - but he doesn't laugh at him when he explains, he laughs with him. At least Koutarou thinks so, it's not the easiest medium to tell.

Heh, medium.

He should text Kuroo that joke. Akaashi's already heard him exhaust every paranormal pun he can think of.

*

**To ???**

< can u tell me abt kozume

**From: ???**

> w h a t a b o u t h i m

**To: ???**

< like...whats his deal u know???

**From: ???**

> w h a t s t h a t s u p p o s e d t o m e a n

**To: ???**

< i dunno.. shit sorry i dont mean 2 offend or anything!!!

< im just saying like hes clearly got shit

< like i told u we were helping him out right but hes so closed off

< its like.. like he mostly talks 2 my partner anyway like which is cool bc its him n hes cool and all but then theres this thing w the contracting and then the ghost in his attic n shit right that’s not normal

< i dunno man what do u think

< kuroo?!?!?

**From: ???**

> B O K U T O

> I C A N T R E P L Y W H E N T H E B O A R D I S B U S Y T Y P I N G O U T Y O U R M E S S A G E S

**To: ???**

< oh

< sry

**From: ???**

> k e n m a h a s n o d e a l

> j u s t h e l p h i m o u t

**To: ???**

< we’re trying!!!!

< its hard :(

< hey do u get hungry

< im having dinner rn

**From: ???**

> n o i d o n t

**To: ???**

< not at all??? not even up for a quick nibble???

**From: ???**

> n o h u ng e r n o t h i r s t

> i c a n t f e e l a n y t h i n g

**To: ???**

< nothing????????

**From: ???**

> w e l l

> i c a n f e e l t h e h o u s e

> t h a t s a l l

**To: ???**

< i see.. thanks!!!!

**From: ???**

> t h a n k s q u e s t i o n m a r k

**To: ???**

< for bein such a cool dude :)

**From: ???**

> h a h a

*

Akaashi is outside his door when he comes home on Tuesday. “Bokuto,” he says, straightening up from where he’s been sitting and dusting off his pants. “You’re late.”

“I was at the gym,” Koutarou says lamely. “Hey, wait, what are you doing here? No one called, I know that -”

“Since you have the phone,” Akaashi interrupts. “I was wondering if anyone had called.”

“No,” Koutarou says, unlocking his door. “I would’ve called you, or texted or something. Seems like our business isn’t taking off quite yet.”

“Good,” Akaashi says darkly and follows him in while Koutarou laughs, taking off his shoes.

“I wish! I wish we had loads of customers.”

“I don’t understand what a peaceful life ever did to you.”

“Peaceful means _boring_ ,” Koutarou says, heading for the bedroom to change. Akaashi follows without comment, cocking his head to watch Koutarou when he gets undressed.

“Dude,” Koutarou says, stopping with his shirt over his arms. “Personal space?”

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Akaashi says, but his neck is flushing. Koutarou laughs at him.

“Alright,” he says, throwing his shirt on his bed and finding a clean one. “So why are you here? Do you want dinner?”

“No, thank you. I told you, I just wanted to hear about the phone.”

“Mhm,” Koutarou hums, unconvinced. He shoots a look towards Akaashi and grins. “You wanted to see me.”

Akaashi pauses, brows twitching as he tries to come up with a believable lie. Sometimes he’s oddly easy to read, for all his secrecy and mystery. “I think we should go over what we have so far,” he settles on.

“You _like_ me,” Koutarou sings.

“Bokuto,” Akaashi says warningly, but Koutarou just grins and crowds him against the corner of the bed.

“Keiji, Keiji,” he says teasingly, breath ghosting over Akaashi’s lips. “You missed me.”

Akaashi looks at him. Looks up at him, because even though there’s only a few centimeters between them, Akaashi’s slouch makes him have to look up to meet Koutarou’s gaze, his eyes intent and dark. He doesn’t say anything.

Koutarou kisses him, holding him close against his bare chest, and Akaashi kisses him back, soft and careful, as if seeking for reassurance. Sometimes he seems so approachable, so real and lovely and all Koutarou wants is for him to be his, but then Akaashi gently pushes at his chest and makes him step back, eyes downcast and shadowed.

“Not now,” he says, but he doesn’t say _not ever_ , and Koutarou’s chest clenches despite himself.

“Okay,” he says. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise,” Akaashi says. His hand is wrapped around Koutarou’s bicep, and he squeezes it once. “You let me get away with too much, Koutarou.”

“You let _me_ get away with too much,” Koutarou counters, brow furrowed in light confusion. Akaashi smiles slightly and shakes his head, letting go of Koutarou’s arm. The absence of his touch feels like a cold band.

“Maybe I will, later,” Akaashi says, and gives Koutarou a quick, chaste kiss. Koutarou laughs, loud and surprised.

“Let me just get a shirt on and I’ll brew some coffee.”

“Thank you,” Akaashi says, and when he raises his gaze again he looks inexplicably grateful, like Koutarou is paying him some service Koutarou doesn’t even know about.

But it’s been so long, and there’s only so much Koutarou can ruminate on Akaashi. He vastly prefers action to thought.

“Okay,” he says again, settling by his dining table with a sigh. “Let’s compare info!”

*

**To: ???**

< u kno what sucks

**From: ???**

> w h a t

**To: ???**

< i do

**From: ???**

> i s t h i s a p i c k u p l i n e o r a r e y o u s a d

**To: ???**

< LOL idk maybe both

< akaashis rly confusin and it SUX

**From: ???**

> w h o s a k a a s h i

**To: ???**

< my partner!!

< ykno

< akaashi

**From: ???**

> t h e o n e w i t h y o u

> t h e o n e w h o s m o k e s

**To: ???**

< yeah thats the one

**From: ???**

> w h a t s h i s d e a l

**To: ???**

< i dunno!!! thats why im sad :(((

**From: ???**

> i d o n t k n o w a n y t h i n g a b o u t h i s t y pe

**To: ???**

< all i kno is im not his type

**From: ???**

> o h

> i s t h a t h o w i t i s

**To: ???**

< no…. i dunno… we’re not dating its just. a thing. but ive always been bad at the monogamous thing

**From: ???**

> i s e e

> w e l l

> i m a l w a y s h e r e f o r y o u

**To: ???**

< thank u kuroo. u may be a freaky supernatural spirit but ur a good friend!!!!!!!

**From: ???**

> r i g h t

**To: ???**

< and im here for u too!!!!!

**From: ???**

> s m i l e y f a c e

**To: ???**

< :)

*

That's how rest week passes, in a flurry of texts and work, drumming his fingers on whatever surface is nearby as he waits for Kuroo to reply. Kuroo's so _funny_ \- Koutarou never expected it, but he's spent more late nights laughing his ass off this week than he's done since college. Kuroo's mysterious too, an enigma in a way that would be sort of hot if he weren't dead and all. And besides, Koutarou’s starting to think that the mystery is just a way to cover up a fucking dork of a human being - which, he has to admit, is really cute too.

Not that he tells anyone else that.

Not that he _could_ tell anyone else anything about his life anymore. The only one who knows about all of this is Akaashi, and he..

Well, Koutarou hasn't heard from him since he found him on his doorstep. And that's - _fine,_ really, he's had Kuroo to entertain himself with, and it's not like he didn't know his crush on Akaashi is a waste of time, but he didn't choose to be a hopeless romantic, alright, it's the way he's always been, with Kuroo too, it's just because of his short attention span, it doesn't really _matter_ —

It doesn't really matter, Koutarou tells himself, alone on a Friday night with his phone quiet in his hand.

*

**From: ???**

> w h a t a r e y o u d o i n g

**To:** **???**

< nm im tryin 2 see if i can catch 2 popcorn w my mouth if i throw them up at the same time

**From: ???**

> b y y o u  r s e l f

> s a d

**To: ???**

< yeah...wtf don’t u have better things 2 do than hassle me

**From: ???**

> n o t r e a l l y

> i m b o r e d

**To: ???**

< really??? wait i guess that makes sense… wait so uve been dead for 2 yrs right

**From: ???**

> s o m e t h i n g l i k e t h a t 

**To: ???**

< u’ve been bored for 2 yrs???????

**From: ???**

> n o

> t i m e u s e d t o p a s s d i f f e r e n t l y

> i t s s l o w e d d o w n r e c e n t l y

**To: ???**

< !!! why!!!! is it some ghost thing

**From: ???**

> n o

> i d o n t k n o w

> i t s t a r t e d w h e n i m e t y o u

**To: ???**

< lol gay

**From: ???**

> y e s

> d o y o u h a v e a p r o b l e m w i t h t h a t

**To: ???**

< what no!!!

< wait what?!?!?!

< your gay????

**From: ???**

> y e s

> y o u a r e s o o b l i v i o u s i t s f u n n y

**To: ???**

< what???

**From: ???**

> n o t h i ng

> h e h

> m y g a y i s l i k e m y n y a s

**To: ???**

< what are u talking about????

**From: ???**

> l i k e

> y o u k n o w

> m y n y a s

**To: ???**

< OH LIKE THAT PICTURE

< LOLOLOLOL

< LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

**From: ???**

> a l r i g h t c h i l l

**To: ???**

< ur nyas kuroo

**From: ???**

> i d o n t e v e n w a n t t o u n d e r s t a n d y o u a n y m o r e

> i u s e d t o h a v e a n y a

**To: ???**

< a nya?

**From: ???**

> a c a t

> b u t h e t u r n e d o u t t o b e e v i l

**To: ???**

< haha whatd he do scratch u or something???

**From:** **???**

> s o m e t h i n g l i ke t h a t

> i m s t i l l b o r e d

**To: ???**

< hey its not that easy 2 entertain someone over sms

< y dont u just haunt around or smt if ur bored!!! U CAN COME OVER

**From: ???**

> n o

**To: ???**

< y not!!!!!!!! MY PLACE IS GREAT

**From: ???**

> i m s u r e b u t i c a n t l e a v e

**To: ???**

< y ?????

**From: ???**

> i h a v e t o t a k e c a r e o f k e n m a

**To: ???**

< take care of in a yakuza sense or a friend sense

**From: ???**

> f u n n y

> i m b o u n d t o t h i s g r o u n d

> i c a n t l e a v e

**To: ???**

< oh… thats sad :( but probs good bcs i shudnt give u my address anyway LOL

**From: ???**

> i t w o u l d n t b e h a r d t o f i n d y o u i f i w a n t e d

> y o u l e a v e a m a r k

**To: ???**

< thats weirdly romantic bro thnks!!!

**From: ???**

> h a h a

> y o u r e w e l c o m e

*

“It's time,” Akaashi says briskly, sitting by Koutarou’s breakfast table. Koutarou blinks. Akaashi wasn't there when he left for his morning run, but maybe he forgot to lock the door. It was locked when he came back, so.. good on Akaashi for saving him, he thinks. Someone not as nice could've broken in in his place.

“Time for what?”

“Time to drive,” Akaashi says just as shortly. Koutarou revises his earlier statement of Akaashi being nice.

“I haven't eaten breakfast yet! Or taken a shower, and trust me, you do _not_ want to share an enclosed space with me like this.”

Akaashi glares at him. “Fine,” he snaps. “I'll make breakfast while you shower.”

“Alright,” Koutarou says, irritated. “What's crawled up your ass today, sunshine? Not had your morning nicotine yet?”

“I'm _fine_.”

“That's real convincing,” he says dryly. He wants to stay and needle Akaashi, but he _does_ need that shower, so he resorts to turning the water extra hot to melt away his frustration.

He doesn't take long, dressing quickly and keeping a towel slung around his neck when he comes back into the kitchen. Akaashi stands up quickly from where he's been waiting by the table, catching Koutarou off guard as he comes close and gives him a hot, bruising kiss, Koutarou trapped between the counter and Akaashi's firm body.

Akaashi breaks away and presses his face into Koutarou’s shoulder. Koutarou raises his arms, confused, to wrap them around him. “Are you okay?”

Akaashi nods, not moving.

“Okay..” Koutarou says carefully. He moves his hand, and - when Akaashi doesn't move away - threads his fingers through Akaashi's hair, petting it slowly. He watches the soup Akaashi's made as it sits on the table, steam curling like smoke from the surface.

After a few long moments, Akaashi pulls back, clearing his throat and straightening like nothing ever happened. Koutarou stares at him.

“ _Seriously_ ,” he says. “What's up with you today?”

“I'm fine,” Akaashi says again. “It's nothing. Let's go.”

“Let me eat first, at least..!”

“Okay,” Akaashi says and takes a seat, pouring Koutarou a bowl. “Here.”

Koutarou takes the offered bowl, looking at him skeptically. “Are you - you're feeling _something._ ”

“I don't feel.”

Koutarou snorts, and Akaashi gives him a faint smile - an acknowledgement of his own joke. He goes back to his soup while Akaashi stares at the steam rising up from the bowl, quiet for a long moment.

“I'm worried,” he says finally.

“About what?”

“You.”

“Me?” Koutarou scoffs. “There's no reason to be worried about me.”

“You never seem to realise the depths of the waters you wade into,” Akaashi says.

Koutarou stops, surprised and confused. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Akaashi sighs. “It's okay, Koutarou,” he says tiredly. “Just eat your food.”

*

**To: ???**

< it's just cool y kno!!! i’ve never talked 2 a supernatural being before!!!

**From: ???**

> l o l

**To: ???**

< i think the board's malfunctioning you only said lol ????

**From: ???**

> y e a h

> i m g l a d y o u t h i n k t a l k i n g t o m e i s c o o l 

> i t h i n k t a l k i n g t o y o u i s c o o l t o o

*

Driving to Kozume’s house feels a little like driving to his doom. There's something _off_ , and he can feel it all the way down to his bones, to his feet sweating in his sneakers. Maybe it's the thought of facing Kuroo, of seeing this guy he almost trusts reveal his true form, or maybe it's the antsy, shifting Akaashi in the front seat. “You can smoke if you want,” Koutarou says. The car smells like smoke already, even though he's never allowed Akaashi to light up a cigarette in it. That's how it is with chain smokers, he figures. The smell never really leaves.

“Thanks,” Akaashi says without looking at him, and rolls down his window. He lights up a cigarette and inhales once, deeply, before breathing out the window and holding it so the wisps of smoke go out the window, too.

His face is set in a stern mask, brow furrowed, dark eyes fixed on the road in front.

Koutarou drives and tries to mind his own business for once.

He fails. “Try not to get ash in my car. Also, what's wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Akaashi replies. Koutarou chances a look over and sees that he's still holding the cigarette half out the window, the wind forcing it to wither away between his fingers.

“Aren't you gonna smoke that? You don't have to be _that_ careful.”

“Don't you know, Koutarou,” Akaashi says, and he sounds sad. “I don't smoke.”

“Hah,” Koutarou says uncertainly, because he doesn't know how else to reply. Of course Akaashi smokes. He always tastes like smoke, clean and wooden like bonfire.

There's silence for a long moment before Akaashi exhales heavily.

“I'm sorry. I'm scared.”

“What?” Koutarou looks over at him, eyes wide.

“Keep your eyes on the road, please.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Koutarou says, looking ahead again. “But.. _you're_ scared? Akaashi ‘I don't feel’ Keiji?”

“You and I both know that's not true,” Akaashi says. He sounds like a bell covered by wet paper - like he's trying to be plain and clear, but there's an undeniable rawness, a rasp to his voice. “I don't quite know what we're going to meet today.”

“Kuroo really doesn't seem that bad, Akaashi, you shouldn't be this worried.”

Akaashi shakes his head. “There's something evil in that house. I don't know how he tricked you into believing otherwise.”

He didn't trick me, Koutarou wants to say, but he doesn't. “It's going to be okay,” he says instead.

Akaashi hums. “I suppose I'm lucky,” he says. When Koutarou looks over, he looks back, eyes gleaming even with the dark circles surrounding them.

“Why?”

“To have a partner such as you,” he says, and suddenly grins. “A car and unrelenting reassurance, one can't ask for more.” Koutarou misses a beat before he laughs so hard he almost drives off the road.

*

“Can I just get two seconds alone with him?” Koutarou asks, climbing out of his car.

“The ghost?” Akaashi asks, bringing candles and an incantation scroll from the back seat. “Absolutely not.”

“I just wanna catch up with him,” Koutarou protests. “It's gonna be my last chance to talk to him! Ever!”

“To talk to _it_ ,” Akaashi says coldly, slamming the door shut. “And no. It's too dangerous.”

Koutarou huffs and locks his door. “ _You're_ too dangerous,” he says nonsensically, and Akaashi nods.

“Exactly.”

“Whatever! Be mysterious and exorcise my new friend without giving me a chance to say goodbye, that's just _fine._ ”

“You shouldn't have made friends with the ghost in the first place,” Akaashi retorts. “I told you.”

“I couldn't help it! He's too awesome!”

The deadpan look Akaashi gives him leads Koutarou to believe that may not be a convincing argument.

“I just think there's something odd about this situation,” he tries. “Kuroo's not _bad_ -”

“If we don't do something,” Akaashi interrupts, “Kozume-san will be killed.”

There is silence. “Really?” Koutarou says weakly. “I don't think Kuroo would..”

“I know it,” Akaashi says simply, sounding so sure that it's impossible to discredit him. “I'm.. sorry, Bokuto. But we have to do this.” He waits, watching Koutarou intently until he nods slightly, before he continues speaking. “Now, are you ready to meet our client like a professional, or are you content to stay shouting in the street?”

“Feh,” Koutarou says. “As if I'd let you get away with all the fun! Let's go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the final chapter will (hopefully) be up in a couple weeks' time! until then, hit us up on tumblr or twitter:  
> schaaf: [tumblr](http://schaaf-art.tumblr.com) | [twitter](http://twitter.com/schaafschaf)  
> kep: [tumblr](http://tivruskis.tumblr.com) | [twitter](http://twitter.com/tivruskis)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we are, the final instalment! hope you enjoy!

Kozume's house looks just like it did the last two times Koutarou was here. It has the same overgrown garden, the same shodden exterior, the same door that needs repainting. Still, somehow it looks drearier, grayer, more dangerous - like it bears sign of the confrontation that awaits. He exits his car, waiting until Akaashi's started to walk up the path before he locks it quickly and stumbles after.

"So, uh, incantation and stuff, you'll - do you want me to do what I did last time?" Koutarou asks, hurried.

"Yes."

"Oh, okay. It's just - I, you know, I'm a little nervous, and what if I fuck up, that'd be -"

"You're just drawing the circle," Akaashi says. He stops in front of Kozume's door, looking Koutarou in the eyes. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

Koutarou blinks. "You literally just said you were scared, though - and I mean, if  _ you're _ scared, what am I supposed to do, ya know?"

"I'm not scared anymore."

"Eh!"

Akaashi smiles, small and genuine. "We're excellent ghost hunters, Koutarou," he says. "We'll do this without problem."

"I.. oh," Koutarou says, trailing off. He might be gaping a little bit - he's so shocked by the smile, one he didn't even try for, that he doesn't realise Akaashi called them ghost hunters until they're already inside the house.

"Welcome," Kozume says. He looks just as small as last time, maybe a little paler, hair greasy and straight.

"Thanks," Koutarou says. He grins at him, and Kozume's brow furrows in confusion, but Koutarou can't help it - just the brief exchange with Akaashi has lifted his spirits.

Heh, spirits. He almost pulls out his phone to text Kuroo 'hey lil mama let me lift your spirits' before he remembers what's happening, and then his smile fades. They're here to get rid of Kuroo.

“Keiji,” he says quietly. “Can I go say bye?”

Akaashi turns his head to look at him. “No.”

“But this is the last..”

“It doesn’t matter,” Akaashi says, not unkindly. “He could hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me,” Koutarou protests, but Akaashi’s looking around, and Koutarou knows the argument is lost. He feels hopelessly and angry all of a sudden, and all he wants to do is to  _ fix this _ \- fix Kuroo, fix Akaashi, fix Kozume’s house.

He doesn’t want Kuroo to disappear.

Akaashi and Kozume are talking, going through something or other, but Koutarou can’t pay attention, mind entirely on what’s about to happen, a horrible feeling of uselessness spreading through his body as he thinks of Kuroo fading away. For a moment, he considers trying to lure himself away, sneaking up into the attic to say bye despite Akaashi’s words, but he knows it wouldn’t work, and all the thought does is make him more frustrated.

He feels like a traitor, and Akaashi looks so - unaffected, unfazed as Kozume leads them to the centremost point of his property. “I didn’t know what you would need,” Kozume says apologetically. He’s cleared space for them in the living room, moved aside the ripped furniture. “Do I need to go get something..?”

“We’ve brought everything we need,” Akaashi says. Koutarou kneels down, starting to unpack what they need - a row of candles, chalk, and incense and parchment for Akaashi to burn. Sometimes he needs to do that, although Koutarou doesn't understand why.

He draws a circle on the wooden floor, as perfect as it can get, and places the candles around it before he stands back up, brushing chalk off his trousers. He feels mute, immobilised by shame, and Kuroo hasn't even appeared yet.

Koutarou's never betrayed anyone before. He never will again, if this is what it feels like.

Kozume is still standing by the edge of the living room, eyes solemn and watchful. “You, uh, might not wanna be here,” Koutarou tells him.

“Why not..? It's my house.”

“He can stay,” Akaashi says.

Koutarou pauses, frowning at Akaashi. “Are you sure?” he asks and leans closer, voice dropping. “Don't you think he's gonna react when he finds out we're exorcising his dead best friend?”

“It's his house,” Akaashi says mildly, and Koutarou lets out a loud noise of frustration.

“Do you ever act like a fucking  _ person _ , Akaashi?”

Akaashi stops, staring at him with wide eyes, and Koutarou can feel his own face flushing with anger and shame.

“I'm sorry -” he starts, but Akaashi interrupts him.

“No,” he says simply, but there's something pained in his voice. “I suppose I don't. Now please step back, Koutarou. I have to light the candles.”

Koutarou steps back, standing beside Kozume. Kozume is still, looking between them with wary eyes, but Akaashi’s bending like nothing’s wrong, snapping his fingers over the wick of the candles and caressing the flame that appears. It looks almost intimate. Koutarou feels like a candle too, a spark that's struggling against the deserved wind of betrayal. 

That doesn't really make sense. He's never been a poet - all he knows is that he's hurting. Something about this house, what he's about to do, pains him to the bone.

“Your best friend,” Akaashi starts as he straightens back up, looking at Kozume. “What was his name?”

“Kuroo. Kuroo Tetsurou,” Kozume replies after a moment, brows angled sharply in confusion. “Why?”

In the beat before Akaashi replies, Koutarou has the time to think, Tetsurou. What a fitting name. He wishes he'd get the chance to say it, see if it fits just as well on his tongue, but - 

“Because we're going to summon him,” Akaashi says and turns back to the circle. He stretches his arms out, and it nearly looks like he’s beckoning the flames to rise as he speaks again, voice steady and loud. “Kuroo Tetsurou. I summon you!”

One moment the circle is empty. Then Koutarou blinks and Kuroo is hovering there, image unsteady. He looks just as ratty as he did when they met, with his torn hoodie and matted hair, a bemused smile on his face. This time his eyes are cloudy, looking around unseeing. “Summoned..?” he asks, almost to himself. “Who summons me?”

“Akaashi Keiji,” Akaashi says. His back is ramrod straight.

“Oh, it’s you,” Kuroo says. He’s still blinking, as if adjusting to the light, but his image is more certain now, his posture calm. “That means..” his gaze searches, and he lights up when he sees Koutarou. “Bokuto! And Kenma.. ! Wait..” he trails off, looking down. “What’s going on here? Why did you summon me?”

“Hey, babe,” Koutarou says, giving a little wave, going for a false lightness - but his voice cracks in the middle, and he immediately wants to punch himself in the face. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Kuroo says warily.

“Is he there?” Kozume asks quietly, the first time he’s spoken in a while. He’s staring at the air in the circle, and Koutarou can see that his hands are trembling. “Is that Kuro?”

“We’re going to exorcise him,” Akaashi says. “We’ll stop the disturbance on your property, Kozume-san, I promise.”

“He’s the one?” Kozume asks, and his voice is tight and choked. “He’s the one who’s been doing everything? The sounds and the - the scratches?”

“Yes,” Akaashi says, at the same time that Kuroo shouts,

“ _ No! _ No, it’s not me, I haven’t been doing anything, I’ve been  _ fighting it, _ Kenma, I wouldn’t -  _ Bokuto _ , tell him I wouldn’t--!”

Koutarou shakes his head, swallowing. It’s hard to meet Kuroo’s gaze. He still looks confused, but it’s quickly being overtaken by anger, fury so intense it makes Koutarou take a step back.

“I’m sorry,” he says, swallowing again, “Kuroo, I’m sorry, I’m sorry for lying -”

“ _ Lying _ ,” Kuroo seethes. “You’re sorry for  _ lying? _ You’re going to get all of you killed!”

“Kuroo Tetsurou,” Akaashi says, loud and overpowering. “I demand that you leave these grounds.”

“Hell no!” Kuroo replies, but Koutarou knows that that’s not how it works, that there’s nothing Kuroo can do to stop this.

“Akaashi,” he says, begs, “let’s just hear him out, can’t we hear him out -”

“It’s trickery, Bokuto,” Akaashi says, giving him a brief look as if trying to comfort him. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just trying to buy time.”

"You have the nerve to call  _ me _ a trickster," Kuroo says darkly, glaring at Akaashi, " _ you?" _

"What's going on?" Kozume asks Koutarou, voice low and pained, but Koutarou just shakes his head, unable to explain.

“Kuroo Tetsurou,” Akaashi says again, voice steady and true. “I demand that you -”

Kuroo starts to flicker, face twisting, shouting to interrupt Akaashi. “ _ Stop _ , you don’t know what you’re doing, if you get rid of me everything will - have some  _ sympathy _ , Kenma’s gonna  _ die _ if you get rid of me,  _ Bokuto’s _ gonna die--!”

_“ I demand that _you_ leave these  grounds_ _,”_ Akaashi says clearly, raising his voice to be heard over Kuroo.

Three is key. This much Koutarou knows about exorcisms. He knows that when Akaashi opens his mouth again, starting to speak - that will be it, that will be all she wrote. No more Kuroo.

“Kuroo Tetsurou! I demand that -”

Koutarou isn’t very good in a crisis. He panics easily, struggling to keep his head calm in the simplest of situations, but something about Kozume shaking like a leaf beside him, Akaashi’s voice booming, Kuroo hopelessly trying to argue -

There is nothing Kuroo can do to stop this, but Koutarou can, and he needs to. He needs to hear what Kuroo is saying, to understand what’s going on. He steps forward, kicking over one of the candles, and Akaashi stops speaking immediately, staring down at the candle.

Kuroo remains in the circle. “ _ Listen to me,"  _ he says. “They’ll die if you exorcise me!”

“Why?” Koutarou asks.

“Kou--  _ Bokuto,”  _ Akaashi says, “don’t entertain him, why did you break the circle -”

Koutarou ignores him, looking straight at Kuroo. “Why will we die?”

“I’m not the one doing this!” Kuroo says. “I’ve been fighting against it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's the  _ cat,” _ he says urgently. “It's not me! I promise, it's not me - tell Kenma, please!”

“The cat?”

“It - it turned into a, some kind of demon, it killed me and ate me, where do you think I got these, Bokuto!” Kuroo tears angrily at his hoodie, pointing out the jagged, torn edges of the holes. “Now  _ tell Kenma it wasn’t me!”  _ There are almost tears in his eyes, Koutarou realises with a start. “Tell Kenma I would never hurt him!”

“He says he didn't do it,” Koutarou reports quickly, turning his head to Kozume but keeping his eyes trained on Kuroo. Akaashi's still kneeling on the floor, fiddling with the candle Koutarou knocked over. “He says it was - the cat, uh, the cat ate him, I don't know -”

“A two-tailed cat! Dai had two tails!” Kuroo shouts. “Tell him I would never hurt him!  _ Tell him!” _

“And he says that, uh, that he'd never hurt you, that the cat, Dai, is that your cat? The one with the cat door? It had two tails - wait, two tails, Akaashi, I know what that is--!”

Akaashi straightens up. “A nekomata,” he says.

“ _ Yes _ ,” Kuroo says urgently. “Now -”

“Yes!” Koutarou shouts, excited for a moment. “I knew I knew what it was! Oh, man, I guess I've picked up more than I -”

The house rumbles. No, it doesn't just rumble, it  _ shakes _ , the foundation rocking with such a deep sense of unease Koutarou can feel it in his bones, and he stops talking immediately, silenced by fear.

“Oh, shit,” Kuroo says.

“What's -”

“It's coming,” Akaashi replies, looking at Koutarou. “You should run. Take Kozume with you.” He turns to look at Kuroo. “Forget it all. Allies?”

“With you?” Kuroo's face screws up, but then the house trembles again and he swallows, nodding. “Yes.”

Akaashi nods back and draws the tip of his boot through the circle of chalk, disrupting it.

“What’s happening,” Kozume asks, sounding lost and hopeless. “Is Kuroo still there?”

Koutarou decides to ignore him for a moment. There are bigger things right now. “We're not going anywhere! I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying with you.”

Then the house trembles again, and there is no more time to run. A shadow grows from the corner of the room - wet and sticky, and with too many teeth, opening in rows and rows and rows. “ _ Hungry _ ,” it says gleefully, stretching up from the floor and up until it's covering the whole wall.

It has patches of fur, Koutarou notes distantly, in the small part of his head not paralysed by fear. That's fucked up.

“You distracted me!” Kuroo yells, turning around and rising up from the ground until he's hovering protectively in front of Kozume. Akaashi hurries to stand next to him, creating a barrier between Koutarou and the monster.

“ _ Hungry _ ,” the thing says again, oozing closer. Shadows mimicking tails flicker over the walls, reaching up and out towards them - and Koutarou’s still petrified and useless, hiding behind Akaashi, and he wants to do something, wants to  _ fight _ \- 

“Don't let it touch you!” Akaashi yells, shoving him back, “Take care of Kozume!”

“I can see it,” Kozume is saying distantly, “it's - what is it, is that -”

“ _ Run _ !”

The monster is scratching everywhere it can reach, making deep gouges in the floor as it drags itself closer and closer to them, exactly like the claw marks adorning the walls.

Kuroo's grappling it now, and it's slashing out at Akaashi, this beast with too many eyes and mouths and they're all dripping drool as it rumbles again and again,  _ “hungry,” _ but Akaashi isn't getting hit, he isn't getting hit, there's nothing to hit - 

Koutarou’s pushing Kozume behind him, taking slow steps backwards while keeping his eyes on the fight, Kuroo almost glowing as he wraps his hands around the sticky shadows, binding them together and trying to push it back down under the floorboards -

Where it’s been  _ living _ , probably, and holy shit, Koutarou’s not being of  _ any use _ -

A shadow shoots forward towards him, and he’s raising his arms defensively, making sure Kozume’s behind him, but Akaashi’s shouting something, and then a wall of smoke is in front of him suddenly, a protective barrier he can’t see anything through.

There’s a beat. A knock against the barrier. Another beat. Another knock. Then -

“ _ Begone _ ,” Akaashi is shouting, and Kuroo’s shouting it too, and then there’s a deafening thud, a throb as the house seems to fall back onto its foundations.

The smoke dissipates slowly, and Koutarou can see Kuroo, and he can see Akaashi - Akaashi, whose left hand is outstretched towards him, slowly rebuilding itself as the smoke trails from the shield and back onto his hand,  _ becoming _ the hand.

There's no sign of the nekomata. 

Koutarou’s mouth is hanging open, and he’s just wetting his mouth to speak when Kozume’s voice, tremoring and quiet, is heard beside him.

“Kuro?”

He’s looking straight at where Kuroo is hovering, eyes wide and disbelieving, and Kuroo is looking back just as incredulous, looking like he doesn’t dare to hope.

“Kenma..?”

“Kuro,” Kozume says again, in a hushed, awed tone. “I can see you.”

He's cut off by a rumble, a dark, threatening sound and the shadows in the room starting to flicker and grow again. 

“Save the tearful reunion,” Akaashi says quickly, “Koutarou, come here, it’s not gone yet.”

“What the  _ fuck _ ,” Koutarou gets out, stumbling over to Akaashi. “Akaashi, your hand, what the hell is going on?”

“There’s no time,” Akaashi bites out. “We need three to exorcise. Kuroo!”

The ghost snaps up from where he’s been staring at Kozume and moves over to Akaashi.

“Koutarou, the salt, bring it here  _ now _ ,” Akaashi commands, and Koutarou can’t do anything but obey, taking the salt from Akaashi’s discarded bag where it lies among ruined floorboards and handing it to him. He’s never been part of an exorcism before, not like this, and his head is spinning, unable to make sense of up and down.

“Repeat after me. Both of you, it needs to be said three times -  _ I banish you _ .” Akaashi throws a handful of salt in front of him, where the monster first appeared, and then gives it to Koutarou, who barely manages to wrap his hand around it. Underneath his feet, the nekomata is screeching, muffled through the floorboards. 

“I banish you,” he says, tongue too big for his mouth and blinking hard, and throws salt where Akaashi had. Then he turns to Kuroo. “Oh, wait, I can’t -”

At the same moment, Kuroo is reaching out for the salt, and when their hands meet in the air they collide, skin against skin for a brief moment as they bump into each other. Kuroo jumps back as if burnt, gasping, and Koutarou almost loses his grip on the jar of salt. “Yes, you can,” Akaashi says a grim smile. “Now hurry up, you two.”

Speechless, Koutarou hands the salt to Kuroo, who takes it with shaking hands and throws a handful in, repeating Akaashi’s words. There is a last heave, the floorboards rising and darkness crawling out, something like a claw thrusting into the air for anything to cling onto, and Koutarou can hear a cat’s yowl, twisted and contorted.

“We ask permission to purify this land,” Akaashi says loudly, looking upwards, and then the house..

If it had fallen back on its foundations earlier, now it is as if it exhales - Koutarou can feel the tightness in his stomach and chest ease as the air becomes lighter, the living room lamp overhead shines brighter.

“Is it gone?” Kozume asks.

“It’s gone,” Akaashi confirms. He lets out a heavy breath and steps back, breaking the triangle between him, Kuroo and Koutarou.

“Akaashi,” Koutarou says, staring at him. His throat is tight and his chest still hurts. “What are you?”

Akaashi looks at him for a long moment before he reaches out a hand almost as if to touch his cheek - then he looks at the other people in the room and his fingers turn to smoke, thick and lingering in the air. It's impossible to pinpoint where his skin stops being skin and starts being smoke. Maybe all of him is this, Koutarou realises, but he's  _ touched _ him, Akaashi has always felt so real under his hands..

“I'm an enenra.”

“An enenra?” Koutarou repeats, because it's easier to wrap his mouth around the word than it is to do it with his mind. Enenras.. smoke beings, made from bonfire.

Akaashi has never mentioned them before. He's never mentioned anything like this before. 

Koutarou pulls away in a hurry, stepping away like he's burned, and Akaashi's face crumbles for a moment before it eases again. He swallows and straightens, looking at Kozume, but Kozume isn't looking back, his eyes on Kuroo once again.

“I can see you,” Kozume says. “How? Can I..?”

Kuroo brings his hand up to touch Kozume’s shoulder, but it doesn't stay when they touch - it goes right through him, Kozume involuntarily flinching away. “No,” Kuroo says, disappointed.

“Why could he..?” Kozume turns to look at Koutarou, brow knitting. Koutarou stumbles over to do it again, and when he rests his hand on Kuroo's arm it stays there, the fabric of Kuroo's hoodie stiff and warm under his fingers.

“I can touch you,” Koutarou says. “How?”

“Exposure,” Akaashi says, and Koutarou looks at him again. Akaashi's not human, he thinks, can't  _ not _ think it, every part of his body is thrumming with confusion and left-over adrenaline. “You've been exposed to the supernatural for so long.”

“That's why I can see you,” Kozume says, eyes still on Kuroo.

“Yes,” Akaashi confirms. “The fight must have shocked your system.”

Koutarou finally finds his voice. “What the  _ fuck,” _ he says and points a finger at Akaashi. “You told me I could see things because we slept together! That it was an STD!”

Kuroo lets out a disbelieving laugh, and Akaashi smirks, flat and false. “I wasn't expecting you to buy it.”

“You..” Koutarou trails off, blinking hard - there's a stone in his chest, pressing down on his lungs, and Akaashi is a  _ liar _ , he's been lying to him for so long, about so many things. “I hate you,” he says, voice tight and unsteady, holding Akaashi's gaze.

He catches a glimpse of Akaashi's face crumbling, terror and grief mixing on his face, before he storms out of Kozume’s house, opening his car with shaking fingers and closing the door with a sharp bang

He can't drive away, even though he wants to - his breathing is short and he's so angry he's seeing red, hands squeezing the steering wheel. Driving now would mean running someone down, and the only person he wants to run down is Akaashi, who probably can't even be run over because he's an  _ enenra  _ and he's been  _ lying to him,  _ and everything he's  _ said _ , maybe he was lying about it all - 

Okay. Breathe, Koutarou. If you snap now, the only person you're gonna hurt is yourself.

Breathe, he tells himself again, and does. It’s irregular at first, unsteady with fury, but he focuses on the feeling of his chest expanding, the sense of oxygen filling his lungs, and finally the white-knuckled grip he has on the steering wheel loosens and he sinks forward, pressing his forehead against the cool plastic of it.

Just as he thinks he’s calmed down, the passenger door opens and Akaashi gets into the car.

“Get out,” Koutarou orders immediately. “Get the fuck out, I don’t wanna see you -”

“Koutarou,” Akaashi says, “Koutarou,  _ please, _ please let me explain, please hear me out.”

“No!” Koutarou responds. He sounds childish even to his own ears, and he hits Akaashi’s arm weakly. “You lied to me!”

“I know,” Akaashi says. He looks uncertain and wrong-footed, but his eyes are so sincere that Koutarou can’t help but stop when they meet his. “I’m sorry.”

“... why?”

“I’m sorry for lying to you. And for hurting you. I never.. I never wanted to, I promise.”

“No, I mean -” Koutarou wets his lips and exhales sharply. He’s getting a headache, and his throat still hurts. “Why did you lie?”

“I didn't -” Akaashi cuts himself off. “I did. I didn't feel like I could tell you, Bokuto.”

His last name now, whereas before it had been Koutarou Koutarou Koutarou - but he sees Akaashi's eyes, and he sees that it's not for lack of want. Akaashi is trying, in his own fumbling way to be kind.

“Why not? You could've just been like, oh, by the way, I'm not human!”

“I never expected you to be able to see me,” Akaashi starts, “and then we - then I...” He trails off, neck flushing and looking away. “I didn't want you to leave. I... liked your company. I like it.” He pauses before taking a breath. “Only those who are pure of heart can see an enenra, Bokuto. I knew as soon as you saw me that you were a good man. I wanted… I wanted you to keep seeing me.”

“Oh,” Koutarou says softly. Against his will, his heart is melting at the picture Akaashi makes, blushing and unable to meet his eyes and maybe in love, just a little bit. Just as much as Koutarou himself is. “You still lied to me, though. That's not cool.”

“I'm sorry. I really am. I never..” Akaashi holds out his hand, lingering uncertainly. “Can I touch you?” Koutarou nods, and Akaashi cups his cheek carefully, swallowing. “I didn't want to hurt you. It seemed.. easier.”

“You're an idiot,” Koutarou says, and Akaashi flinches and pulls away.

“I know. I never... I was expecting you to question my story, so I could explain then, but instead you embraced it. And then came all this, our business. Too much was at stake.”

“You're an idiot,” Koutarou says again.

Akaashi sighs, looking at the empty road ahead. “I know,” he murmurs.

“Is this why you wouldn't date me?”

Akaashi startles, looking at him with wide eyes, before he nods slowly. “I didn't... I was already deceiving you. I didn't want to make it worse.”

“We still slept together, though.”

“Well, that's...” Akaashi's eyes scan over him. “You're very attractive, K— Bokuto.”

“Call me Koutarou,” Koutarou says impulsively, “call me Koutarou and kiss me.”

He looks at Akaashi, eyes burning and determined, and Akaashi looks back, still and conflicted.

A beat. Koutatou’s blood is thrumming in his ears again, his body tingling with adrenaline just like it did, and somehow this is just as scary as the howling darkness earlier. Akaashi cradles his cheek again, careful and impossibly gentle, but it still feels like a sear, a flame that's stripping Koutarou bare and enveloping him so he's all laid out in Akaashi's language of fire and smoke, and it's scary but it's  _ exciting _ , thrilling like nothing else - 

“Koutarou.” Akaashi's lips on his, soft and tentative, bring his thoughts to a screeching halt. His eyes are still wide open and Akaashi's are too, dark brown and kind as they hold his gaze. Koutarou sags, relief filling him as he realises that this is okay, this isn't a life or death situation, he can kiss Akaashi back.

If the gently urging hand on his cheek is any indication, Akaashi wants him to kiss him back.

Koutarou opens his mouth and presses closer, closing his eyes to focus on the here and now, the adrenaline leaving his body to be replaced by something calmer, more blatantly happy. Adrenaline is a double-edged sword and this feeling is not - it's pure, simple joy, and he can't help but laugh a little into Akaashi's mouth.

“What's so funny?” Akaashi murmurs, breath ghosting over his lips.

“Us,” Koutarou says just as quietly, not opening his eyes. “Ending up like this, macking in a car like teenagers when we have clients waiting for us.”

“Clients..” Akaashi sighs the word, then pulls away - it's slow enough that Koutarou isn't offended, obvious that Akaashi misses his space as much as he misses Akaashi's. “Kozume.”

“And Kuroo,” Koutarou supplies, and then pauses. “Wait, are we exclusive now?”

Akaashi's brow furrows. “Why?”

“I told Kuroo I didn't really do that.. I mean, I  _ can,  _ I don't mind at all if that's what you want, because I - I  _ really _ like you, so - but I should clear some things up, ‘specially since we can touch now, and.. Y’know.”

“You've been communicating?” Akaashi asks, and Koutarou realises his blunder.

“Oh. Shit. Well, yeah, we've been - uh, texting, sorry that I didn't tell you and I didn't do what you asked me to, but he's a really cool guy! And now it turns out he's not evil after all, he's actually really nice and cute!”

Akaashi's mouth twists and Koutarou swallows with trepidation, reaching out to squeeze Akaashi's thigh.

“Is that okay? I'll talk to him, I swear. And I'm sorry for lying.”

“No,” Akaashi says, grimacing like he's pulling teeth. “You're right. But you should've been more careful.”

“Nothing bad came of it!”

“Something could've happened to you!” Akaashi says back, raising his voice. “Something could've happened to you, and I -” He stops himself and trails off, looking away. “God. I've messed this all up, haven't I? I should go inside and apologize.”

“What, why?”

“He must hate me. I've treated him... unfairly.”

“He won’t hate you,” Koutarou says with surety. “I l- like you, a lot, so he likes you too.”

“It’s not that easy,” Akaashi says, and looks like he’s about to say more, but falls silent again.

“You keep doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Almost saying something.”

Akaashi pauses. He wets his lips, Koutarou’s eyes following the shiny trail of his tongue. “I’m not exactly used to this,” he says finally, voice halting and unsure. “Being so.. frank.”

“You usually have no problem being frank,” Koutarou says, even though abrasive seems like a better adjective to describe Akaashi’s general attitude towards people.

“I’m not human,” Akaashi replies, and his voice is sharp before it softens just as quick. “I - before you, there wasn’t.. I didn’t have a wealth of acquaintances to practice my skills on.”

“Is that why you wouldn’t tell me the truth?”

“What?” Akaashi’s brow crinkles again.

“Because you were lonely,” Koutarou supplies, honest and brash in the only way he knows how to be. “Is that why you didn’t wanna chance me leaving?”

Akaashi looks shocked for a beat, eyebrows raised high and mouth falling open, before he looks away, clearing his throat. He nods, not meeting Koutarou’s eyes. “I suppose.”

“Kuroo’s lonely too. Maybe you two could be friends! We could have sleepovers and catch Kuroo up on everything he’s missed on TV! And you too, if you haven’t been around that long - no wonder you never thought my jokes were funny!”

“It’s not that easy,” Akaashi says, but he’s smiling a little, and Koutarou grins widely back.

“It could be. You don’t have to make things so complicated, Keiji.” The name feels familiar and yet daring on his tongue, something he’s so rarely allowed himself to say in earnest, but Akaashi’s eyes soften.

“I haven’t been.”

“You have,” Koutarou corrects him, not unkindly. “It’s okay. It’s pretty human, actually.”

Akaashi laughs, a small chuckle that makes the line of his shoulders ease, makes him relax in his seat. “I suppose so.”

Koutarou kisses him quickly - because he wants to, because he can, because Akaashi looks too lovely not to. “Let’s go back in.” He exits the car, waits until Akaashi’s standing on the road before he locks it, and their shoulders bump as they walk back to the scene of the crime.

Kuroo and Kozume are standing close, talking quietly, and both of them look that mixture of sad and happy only a bittersweet reunion can invoke - Koutarou almost doesn’t want to interrupt, but then Kuroo lifts his head and catches sight of them, and his smile gets smaller, less sad.

It suits him.

“Hey, you guys alright?” Koutarou asks, and Kuroo nods. Kozume stands back to watch them. “We’ve made up! The demon is abolished! A happy ending for all!”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Akaashi says dryly, and Kuroo laughs.

“Has he always been this relentlessly optimistic?”

“As far as I’m aware,” Akaashi replies, looking a little surprised that Kuroo’s talked to him. “We haven’t known each other for that long.”

Koutarou slings an arm around Akaashi’s shoulder, pulling him into his side. “More than long enough! You okay there, Kozume?”

Kozume startles and nods. “Everything is over,” he says quietly. “Thank you. I should.. pay you.”

“That would be great,” Koutarou says cheerfully. “Bringing your best friend back is extra -  _ ow _ , Akaashi, don’t hit me!”

“I’ll go get the money,” Kozume says, a little frosty, and disappears up the stairs.

Koutarou looks after him. “I didn’t mean it in a rude way..”

“You didn’t bring me back, though,” Kuroo says. He moves towards Koutarou, but he doesn’t look mad.

“We kinda did! He can see you now.”

“But he can’t do this,” Kuroo says, and reaches out to ruffle Koutarou’s hair. He jerks back for a moment before stilling, laughing uncertainly.

“That’s true.” He wraps his hand around Kuroo’s wrist and brings it down, marvelling at the warm, dry skin under his fingers. Kuroo’s wrist is smaller than his, but not by much, and Koutarou’s thumb and index finger barely touch around it. “You’re warm.”

The room stays silent, so Koutarou looks up to find Kuroo staring at the contrast of their skin tones, speechless.

“Are you okay?” He turns to Akaashi. “Did I break him?”

“No,” Kuroo replies, but his voice is a little hoarse. “It’s been.. a long time since anybody touched me, Bokuto.”

“Oh. Oh!” He lets go of Kuroo immediately. “Oh, man, I’m sorry, I’m super sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Kuroo says. “I didn’t mind. Actually..” He looks over at Akaashi, then back at Koutarou. “Did you two work things out?”

“Yeah, we did,” Koutarou replied sunnily.

“I see,” Kuroo says. He looks crestfallen, but quickly covers it up with a slight smirk. “I'm happy for you.”

“I - oh.. uhm, I was, actually, Keiji, I -” Koutarou turns to him, worrying at his inner cheek. “I was meaning to ask you, uh. Well, you know, that I, well, haha, funny story -”

“I know you're poly,” Akaashi supplies plainly. “If that's what you're clumsily trying to get at.”

“It's - I'm not _ clumsy,” _ Koutarou replies, enraged. “I'm trying to spare your feelings.”

“You don't have to,” Akaashi says with a shrug. “I know.. I know what this is. I don't feel threatened. You can date Kuroo.”

“Really?” Kuroo asks, just as Koutarou shouts,

_ “Really? _ Whoa, Keiji, I don't know whether to hit you or kiss you -”

“Why would you hit me,” Akaashi interrupts with an adorably confused frown, but Koutarou barges on.

“- but actually, I was hoping for more of a, the three of us? You know?” He holds up his fingers to form a triangle.

Akaashi and Kuroo exchange glances. “That seems a little hasty,” Akaashi begins. Kuroo follows up.

“Maybe we should start by getting to know each other, huh? And then we can take it from there. Hey, Kenma.”

Koutarou, in his elation at getting what he wants and the subsequent filthy threesome daydreams, hadn't noticed Kozume coming back into the room, holding a bunch of yen notes in his hand. “I didn't want to interrupt,” he says mildly. “You were in the middle of something.”

Koutarou hurries to move between Akaashi and Kuroo, gripping one of their hands in each of his own and holding them up triumphantly. “Ta da! Do I have your blessing, Kozume-san?”

Kozume looks increasingly unimpressed. “Do you have to come over to see Kuro?”

Kuroo shakes his head, squeezing Koutarou’s hand and gesturing for Kozume to come closer with his other hand. “I’m not bound to this property anymore,” he explains. “I couldn’t leave in case the nekomata got you.”

Kozume tilts his head down in gratitude. “Thanks for protecting me,” he says quietly. “It’s selfish, but I’m glad you didn’t move on.”

“I’m glad too,” Kuroo says, and the smile he gives Kozume seems unbearably intimate for a second - not like they are lovers, or have ever been lovers, but a smile you give to someone you’ve trusted with some part of your soul. Koutarou stamps down his jealousy. They’re old friends, now’s  _ really _ not the time to feel insecure. He and Kuroo barely even know each other, after all.

Still, he twitches enough for Kuroo to notice. 

“Do you wanna go talk for a bit?” Kuroo asks him, voice low.

“What! No, no, I’m fine, we can stay here -”

“Bokuto and I are gonna go talk for a bit,” Kuroo tells Akaashi and Kozume. “Have fun cleaning.” He tugs Koutarou out and up the stairs, all the way to the attic where they first met.

“What's the matter?” Kuroo asks him once they're alone. He has no right to know Koutarou this well already, to see through him this easily - but Koutarou’s always been transparent, for good and for bad.

“Nothing,” he says, raising his hands at Kuroo's skeptical look. “Really! Nothing!”

“Then why are you upset? Aren't you getting everything you want?’

“I am,” Koutarou says, because he knows explaining would make him seem childish and annoying. He's spent enough time seeming like that for one lifetime. “It's just - um.. you and Kenma were never together, right?”

“What?” Kuroo asks, in the brief moment before understanding eases the lines of his face. “No, we weren't. We're - we were very close. But not like that.”

“And you didn't want to be either?”

“Maybe when I was young,” Kuroo concedes. “When marrying your best friend seems like the best way to make them stick around. But now? No.”

“Okay,” Koutarou says, hating the way his voice betrays his insecurity. Kuroo steps closer, cupping his cheeks in one swift move and bringing their lips together.

Kuroo's lips don't feel like the lips of a ghost at all. They're dry and warm, just like his wrist, like his fingers spread out on Koutarou’s cheeks, and Koutarou is so startled by it that he almost forgets to kiss back. Kuroo starts to pull away and Koutarou wraps his hands around his arms to keep him close, finally moving his lips against his.

The kiss doesn't last long, but it feels like a bit of an eternity - Koutarou feels thrilled in a way he hasn't felts since he kissed a stranger in Orchestra, tasted fire and smoke on his tongue. Kuroo pulls away to let him breathe, but Koutarou keeps him close, lips almost touching as he speaks.

“So.. do you think I have some sorta supernatural kink? Ghostphilia?”

Kuroo pauses and then he laughs, a loud cackle that Koutarou’s never heard before and he immediately  _ loves,  _ wants to spend hours and hours making Kuroo laugh like that. “Maybe,” he finally gets out, still laughing. “Akaashi's not a ghost, though.”

“Ghost, enenra,” Koutarou replies, shrugging. He's grinning, delighted at Kuroo's laugh. “What's the difference, really?”

“Guess we'll get to find out,” Kuroo says and winks with exaggeration, and now it's Koutarou’s turn to laugh, bending over with the force of it.

“Haha, fuck, I can't  _ wait _ to see you and Akaashi together -”

“Me neither,” Kuroo says, and his false nonchalance cracks for a moment, showing a young, lonely man.

The sight makes Koutarou sober up. He reaches out and catches Kuroo's hand in his own, squeezing it. “It'll be good,” he tells him. “This'll all be really fuckin’ good, I promise.”

“I trust you,” Kuroo says, and lets Koutarou pull him back down to the living room, where Akaashi and Kozume are on their knees, cleaning up rubble.

“Lookin’ good, Keiji!” Koutarou shouts. He doesn't let go of Kuroo's hand, even when Akaashi's head snaps up and his eyes linger on their joined fingers. When he straightens up, he gives them both a small smile, and Koutarou _ knows _ \- 

He's not a liar. This is going to be good.

“I'll help you, Kenma,” Kuroo says, and he lets go of Koutarou’s hand to walk over to him, giving Koutarou an accidentally lingering look over his shoulder.

“You made up, then,” Akaashi murmurs, standing next to Koutarou.

“And we made out, too,” Koutarou says proudly, not bothering to lower his voice. Kozume twitches, but otherwise doesn't react.

Akaashi laughs lowly, relaxing when Koutarou puts his arm around him. “You always have the wildest ideas.”

“And they always work out! Didn't this work out?”

Akaashi looks around for a long moment, gaze tracing the lines of Kuroo's back before he turns to meet Koutarou’s eyes, smiling. “Somehow, yeah.”

“It's because I'm a genius.”

“Don't push it.”

“I'm a genius,  _ Keiji _ ,” Koutarou says, taking great pleasure in enunciating his first name. “This is just proof.”

Akaashi laughs, soft and warm, and Koutarou grins so wide his cheeks ache, standing next to him and watching Kuroo and Kozume cleaning up the living room, conversing quietly.

Yeah. It's gonna be really fuckin’ good.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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**Author's Note:**

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